


Breathe The Pressure

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Video Blogging RPF, Youtube RPF
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Being Lost, Blood Loss, Blood and Injury, Fainting, Family Feels, Fear, Help, Helplessness, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Late at Night, Major Character Injury, Mid-Canon, Missing in Action, Mugging, Multiple Selves, Phone Calls & Telephones, Rescue, Rescue Missions, Stabbing, Walks In The Park, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 06:36:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14396373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: Breathe the pressureInhale, inhale, you're the victimMarvin is ambushed on the way home from a show, starting a race against the clock for the others; they need to find him before he bleeds out.





	Breathe The Pressure

_Deep breaths…Deep…deep breaths…_

Every breath strained the skin of Marvin’s stomach, stealing his breath as pain burned up and down each rib on his right side. Ever since Anti had pegged him as a target, he had begun an intensive study on knife-fighting—specifically, how to win them, but none of that had helped him tonight. Not every knife-wielder fought with the same precision and savagery that Anti did and frankly, Marvin hadn’t even been expecting it.

The stranger who had stopped him on the street looked as if he was seventeen or eighteen—just a kid, pale, scruffy, and hollow-eyed. At first Marvin half-thought he would be offering to set him up with some drugs, but instead he’d thrust out a pamphlet advertising one of Marvin’s upcoming shows, mumbling a request for an autograph.

“Won’t be able to go to the actual show…” he’d explained, hunching his shoulders and fidgeting. “Jus’ thought I’d ask. Don’t bother if you want me to pay for it, though.”

In the back of his mind, Marvin had known something wasn’t right about it, but he was more preoccupied with the sympathy he felt.

“Of course not,” he’d assured him, whisking out his wand and waving a meticulous hand over it until it came to life. The kid’s eyes widened and he shifted back, uneasy at the sight of the wand, and the magician smiled in return, sending sparks from the instrument to burn his sweeping signature into the pamphlet without a singe. “We just happened to bump into each other; I’m not gonna charge.”

That was when the kid had dropped the paper and grabbed his wand instead, hurling it as far as he could before yanking his other hand out of his jacket pocket and revealing the knife. Everything had happened too quickly. Marvin remembered holding up his hands, warning him that he didn’t need his wand to channel his magic and he _could_ stop him if he had to.

“I just want your wallet, man; you’re famous, you’ve probably got a lotta cash and I need some! Now—”

The would-be mugger hadn’t even been able to make his demands before a noise in the nearby bushes had startled the both of them and the knife swung at him. Marvin had stumbled and fallen at the base of a tree while the kid bolted. The noise turned out to be a stray cat, which scurried in the opposite direction.

The only thing running through Marvin’s mind at this point was pressure. He’d had knife wounds before—never in the abdomen, granted, but any time there was blood, pressure followed. He had to keep his hands on it, keep the wet warmth plastered to his palm and _no further_ ; it was a race to contain the blood to the fabric underneath his fingers.

He should be calling the police, but the shock of the injury had rattled his brain; he couldn’t remember where on earth he was, so they wouldn’t be able to find him. He had taken a different route than usual to get home due to traffic, a route he rarely ever used and one he would never use again if he could help it. His attempted laugh at this thought became a breathy whimper as the movement jarred his body. He had to call _someone_.

Ducking his head and grimacing as the stinging scent of blood reached his nose, Marvin dug in his pocket for his phone, the pain in each breath growing heavier as he struggled. It took him too long to unlock it; the biometric lock screen wasn’t reading his print properly because of the blood. Once it finally opened for him, he exhaled shakily, moving straight to the contacts. Red smeared his screen as he swiped and scrolled, striking the first name in his contacts.

Alex, his stage manager, didn’t pick up; it rang for what felt like eons before going to voicemail. Whining in frustration, he leaned his head back against the tree trunk, bits of bark pulling at his hair. Almost a minute later, he shook himself, prying his eyes open and shuddering. He couldn’t afford to fall asleep now. His hand shook as he tried the second number, praying Chase hadn’t gone to bed and switched his phone off.

After five rings, Chase picked up. “Hey, Marv! You’ve been out a while; what’s up?” he greeted him cheerfully, his voice raised over the chatter in the background. Relief, nausea and pain tearing through him simultaneously, Marvin bit his lip and breathed harshly through his nose, trying to find the right words. Of all things, he was worried about panicking the younger Ego.

“I need you to come pick me up,” he announced in one breath. “I don’t…I dunno where I am.”

“What?” Chase laughed a little, sounding dubious. “Did you get spooked by a dog again? Let me guess, you jumped a fence into someone’s yard, tryin’ to escape the dog, and now you’re trying to keep the owners of the house from finding you! Where’re you hiding?”

The thought of being tactful dissolved out of his mind; he didn’t have time for this. “Chase—” A sharp contraction of the muscles in his stomach seized Marvin’s sentence, wringing a strangled gasp out of him. “I— _aghh_ —Ch-Chase, I need help. I’m hurt…”

“…You what?” The vlogger’s tone had completely changed, the humor washed away by alarm. “ _Marvin?_ What is it? How bad is it?!”

“Stabbed,” the magician ground out, curling into himself as much as he was able. For a moment all he could hear was Chase swearing profusely on the other end and then there was a clamor and some muffled hollers to whoever was talking in the background. He was almost certain he could hear Anti’s name amidst the urgent chatter but before he could ask, Chase was talking directly to him again.

“Okay, okay, Marv, we’re gonna find you! Is the GPS in your phone on?”

“S’never worked and I—I took a different route. There’re fences…trees…I think I’m on the outskirts of a park somewhere, but I can’t remember where. I don’t remember, Chase, I can’t—”

“Shh, shh, calm down,” Chase interrupted hurriedly. “I’m gonna call Bing, he can track whatever cell tower you’re connected to! It’s gonna be okay, I promise. Here, talk to Schneep! Don’t stop talking!”

Marvin didn’t even have a chance to bid Chase goodbye before Schneep’s voice was filling his ears, demanding answers. _Did you see the knife? How big was it? Was it serrated or smooth? How long ago was the attack?_ The magician did his best to find the words to describe it all, but it felt like the harder he thought about it, the more drained he became.

“Stay awake, Marvin,” Schneep ordered tersely, breaking through the haze that had fallen over Marvin without his knowledge. There was a faint buzzing in his ears, as if little bees were swarming around in his head, making him dizzy. He jostled himself a little, retightening his hold on the wound and groaning.

“Hurts…Schneep… _h_ - _hurts_.” It was the biggest understatement he could force through his teeth; the burn in his side was both hot and cold, as if the knife were still in his body, sawing in and out of the wound.

“I know, I know, but you need to press down hard,” the doctor continued, his tone reflecting more concern than he probably realized. “You need that blood, you know, you cannot have it all over the ground! It does you no good there.”

Marvin swallowed thickly, blinking hard until his swimming vision refocused. “Pressure,” he murmured, his voice strained. When had he forgotten that? “Gotta keep…pressure…”

“That’s right. You hold on tight, no matter what.” There was a short pause, as if Schneep was trying to think of what else he could say. “Tell me…ah! Tell me about your show tonight! What was that like?”

“Oh, you don’t wanna know about that,” Marvin accused, his eyes trailing up toward the night sky. The stars were extraordinarily bright, even from down here. “You’re just try’na…keep me awake.”

When Schneep didn’t respond, clearly expecting him to answer anyway, he thought back. It felt as if the performance was centuries ago; Marvin struggled to latch onto the mental images but once he did, a lazy, distant smile crossed his face. “Got a few fish to jump out of their bowls through a fire ring to some bowls on the other side. Turned a stuffed cat into a real cat…gave it to a little girl in the crowd.” He exhaled weakly, letting his head loll forward. “Looked like Ch-Chase’s little girl…”

A sharp call of his name forced his head back up and he dropped the phone, throwing his hand up in a feeble attempt to defend himself. Sparks spewed and fizzled weakly from his fingertips before flittering down, winking out before they could even touch ground. Before he could try to muster a better effort, Chase himself was on his knees in front of him, clutching his shoulders.

“Marv? Marv, it’s okay, it’s me!” he exclaimed urgently before hollering in the general direction of the phone in Marvin’s lap. “We got ’im, Schneep, we found him!”

One moment Chase was alone in front of him, the next Bing was there, dropping to a crouch next to him and saying something to Chase, too quickly for Marvin to catch up and decipher it. The magician shrank back as best he could, eyes fluttering against the keen amber light Bing’s emblem was giving off.

“Shouldn’t shine that in someone’s face,” he mumbled, but within seconds he found that he didn’t have to complain. The light was fading fast.

It returned brighter than ever, so bright that as soon as Marvin tried to blink his eyes open he had to squeeze them shut again. His brows furrowed as consciousness finally let him form a stray thought or two. He felt…lost. He’d lost time somewhere along the way and it _should_ have been disconcerting, but he felt nothing but a cloudy, dampening sense of calm.

He could have easily slipped back into sleep then and there, but he had just come to the belated realization that his mask was gone, stripped away to make way for a nasal cannula. His face was bare for the world to see; he just had to pry his eyes open to see which world that was.

It was the world of chemical cleansers, dull beige curtains and muffled PA announcements off in the hall, he discovered. How could Schneep stand working here every day?

Shifting as best he could to see if he could locate said doctor, Marvin winced and slumped back against his pillows as his reason for being here reminded him of its presence, sending a warning twist of pain through his side. As he held his breath against it, he forced himself to perform a mental check. All of his limbs and organs seemed to be in place…The knife must not have struck anything vital, but clearly he would have a ways to go before he was able to take a bow onstage again.

Familiar voices from outside caught his attention, distracting him from this thought. From the sound of it, Schneep was coming to check on him with an impatient Chase on one side and a pressing Jackieboy on the other. He could already hear Schneep protesting that he was going to be fine and they ought to know by now that getting overexcited wouldn’t help anything.

Despite himself, despite where he was and what was ahead of him, Marvin found a soft smile already sneaking onto his face, a tingle of relief and gratitude stirring in his chest and numbing the pain just enough for him to relax his clenched abdomen.

As soon as he saw them, he would repeat Schneep’s assurances; he was going to be fine. He wouldn’t have the stage for a while, but he did have them. Exhaling slowly, he settled carefully back down where he was and waited for the door to open.


End file.
